Haruki Murakami has put scientists to shame. Harvard geneticists recently announced that they are two years away from bringing the wooly mammoth back from extinction, while Murakami is releasing his latest mammoth tonight: His novel "Kishidancho Goroshi" will be published in two 500-page volumes via Shinchosha and given the English title "Killing Commendatore," according to the publisher's website.

Shinchosha has highlighted the fact that this is the 68-year-old Murakami's first honkakuteki ("full-fledged") novel in seven years since 2009's "1Q84," although he has kept busy in the interim. Murakami published the shorter "Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage" in 2013 with publisher Bungeishunju, and a collection of short stories titled "Men Without Women" in 2014, so he likely put his most recent work together in three short years.

What should readers be expecting with this new release? Ever since spoilers leaked for 2002's "Kafka on the Shore," Murakami has kept plot details a tight secret, but as a writer he has several tendencies.